Where to Dine Out for New Year's Eve, All Across America

Dinner out on New Year’s Eve: The notion invokes fierce cries of “amateur hour!” from many corners. But you’ve gotta line your stomach somehow for all that Krug you’ll be drinking. And some of us don’t want a sink full of dishes to start 2013. So! Go out if you like, tip well, and remember that you don’t have to stick to fancy French and Italian places; there are tons of different cuisines perfect for rocking out the end of 2012. –Alex Van Buren

New YorkGrand Sichuan HouseIf you’re going to be drinking Champagne all night, start with bubbly and good Chinese food–a classic combo. Grand Sichuan House in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is one of dozens of great Chinese restaurants in New York City right now. The place is BYOB, bare bones, and delicious, from the silky mapo tofu to the ma la steamed whole fish. They don’t exactly break out the Champagne buckets for you, so bring your own. And heads-up: The place closes at 10:30 p.m.–all the better for rolling out to your midnight parties and bars afterwards. 8701 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn; 718-680-8887; grandsichuanhouse.com

Atlantic CityAmadaOn the opposite end of the flashiness spectrum, we have Atlantic City. Take a break from the slots long enough to eat dinner; Jose Garces’s restaurant Amada, which has an outpost both here and in Philly, does Spanish cuisine really right, and his NYE prix fixe includes a side of live flamenco dancing. Expect flourishes like wagyu carpaccio and a New York strip from Snake River Farms; pasta with porcini, oyster mushrooms, and white truffles; and a Cava toast at midnight for the 10:30 p.m. seating. (If the truffles and the flamenco become just too overwhelming, gaze out at the Atlantic Ocean instead. Amada has one heck of a view.)Amada at Revel Resort; 500 Boardwalk; 609-225-9900; revelresorts.com/dining/amada

New OrleansCochonIs there anything better than Southern food before a night of hard partying? At Donald Link’s beloved Cochon, a four-course prix fixe gives you plenty of options, so you can choose your own high-calorie adventure. Braised oxtail with potato dumplings or cobia fritters with white barbecue sauce? Cured-pork-belly-wrapped goat or crab-stuffed mackerel with potato-and-crab fondue? Just make sure you dine with someone hungrier than you are; if you eat every bite of every course, we can’t guarantee you’ll still be awake when the ball drops. 930 Tchoupitoulas Street; 504-588-2123; cochonrestaurant.com

AtlantaEmpire State SouthHugh Acheson is throwing two types of celebrations this year: His restaurant will have two seatings, at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., then a party from 11 p.m. till 2 a.m. ($30 gets you a ticket, two glasses of bubbly, and snacks, plus a local band). It’d be hard to pick one over the other; the shindig sounds fun, but the sit-down menu looks gorgeous. There’s caviar and foie gras torchon, scallops and oysters, charred prime rib-eye, and a family-style dessert course that includes a clementine granita and beet ice cream. It’s a French-leaning menu, but Acheson is partial to pickled and piquant flavors that add a Southern twang.999 Peachtree Street, Atlanta; 404-541-1105; empirestatesouth.com

ChicagoTrenchermenChicago’s new hotspot–with those chandeliers, that exposed brick–should be a pretty sexy place to spend New Year’s, and its $50 three-course menu is not a bad deal. The eclectic menu includes options like “pickle tots,” chestnut agnolotti, and a 21-day dry-aged rib-eye from Painted Hills. If you choose to dine late (9:30), it costs a bit more, but you can dig into bacon-cured sweetbreads with XO sauce and foie-gras-stuffed trotters. Try your darnedest to save room for the dessert course (brown butter cognac cake with orange marmalade and ginger ice cream). 2039 West North Avenue; 773-661-1540; trenchermen.com

MinneapolisSaffronIt’s easy to get stuck eating bland food when the kitchen gets harried on a night like NYE. A glance at the menu at this Middle Eastern restaurant makes us think that won’t be an issue: Bay scallop comes with preserved lemon, flying fish roe sabayon, and pungent black garlic. Roast ocean trout has a crust of a different fish–smoked salmon–spiced with turmeric. And braised short ribs are plated with saffron fregola “risotto” and a piquillo pepper-gremolata jus. You may not remember much the first day of 2013, but one of these six dishes should make the cut.123 North Third Street; 612-746-5533; saffronmpls.com

PortlandYakuzaElegant, beautiful, and delicate, Japanese food is tough to beat when it comes to feeling light on your feet all night. Portland’s Yakuza is doing a six-course menu that, though not yet finalized, will include oysters, scallops, duck, salmon, hamachi, uni, and foie gras. After 10 p.m., the drinking food comes out, from duck-fat popcorn to pork ribs to gyoza. Last year the late-night diners had use of the hot tub out back (so Portland). That’s not the case this year, so keep your bikini under wraps for the duration of dinner, please. 5411 Northeast 30th Avenue; 503-450-0893; yakuzalounge.com

SeattleRevelMarried couple Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi run two Seattle restaurants, and they’re both doing right by 2013. At Revel, the usual Korean drinking-food awesomeness will include the popular duck meatball and noodle dish with smoked chiles and mirin, and fried shrimp-bacon dumplings, but there will also be a special of chili-rubbed roast lamb leg. And happily, the place will break its usual rules and take reservations for parties smaller than six. At sibling restaurant Joule, expect a fancier menu reflecting the couple’s Alain Ducasse training. Think apple velouté with miso, sesame éclair with foie gras creme anglaise, scallops with Korean chili, and caramelized fennel butter. 403 North 36th Street; 206-547-2040; revelseattle.com

AlbuquerqueJennifer James 101Jennifer James has divided her energy into cooking two meals–a fortifying one and a froufrou one (although she calls them “casual” and “classy”). “Casual” is a New Year’s Eve feast that would strengthen a marathoner as well as it would a partier–okra fritters and crawfish, chicken and pork gumbo, rice and cornbread, greens, and pecan pie with bourbon ice cream. “Classy” is NYE itself, and James has taken a French-inflected approach: truffled potato and celery soup, roast beets with Valdeón, almond vinaigrette, citrus-caramel pork belly, grilled New Mexico beef filet with sauce Bourguignon, and lobster Americaine. Whichever way you go, it sounds like you’ll leave full.4615 Menaul Boulevard Northeast; 505-884-3860; jenniferjames101.com

Salt Lake CityThe Copper OnionApparently, this Salt Lake City restaurant is date central on NYE, so the chef has put together a bunch of specials “for two,” like pot au feu and fisherman’s stew. Meh. For our money, to round out the year we don’t want heavy-sounding specials, we want what the restaurant knocks out of the park every night. Here, the favorite is the pasta carbonara, made with house-made noodles and decadently creamy in texture, thanks to yolk of local eggs. (And we wouldn’t share. We’d just say “I love you” a lot.) Dinnertime trivia: This is the sibling restaurant to Plum Alley, one of our Top 50 Restaurants of 2012!111 E. Broadway, Suite 170; 801-355-3282; thecopperonion.com

Healdsburg, CAMateo’s Cocina LatinaThe Bay Area is packed with excellent Mexican food, as everyone knows, but just up the road, north of Santa Rosa, is a restaurant run by Yucatán native Mateo Granados. He made his name making tamales, and they are tasty, but his NYE menu looks damn delicious. His tacones are a twist on the famous salmon cornets that Thomas Keller makes down the road at the French Laundry; Granados fills them with Dungeness crab, an olive oil guacamole, and Osetra caviar. There’s also a ceviche and a tasty sounding ancho-chile-glazed lamb, both of which would be great with one of 20-plus tequilas or 15 Mezcals from the bar. Who needs Freixenet when you’ve got those? Just make sure you’ve got a B&B reservation and a designated driver.214 Healdsburg Avenue; 707-433-1520; mateoscocinalatina.com

Los AngelesBar AmáChef Josef Centeno’s Baco Mercat made our Top 10 Best New Restaurants list this year, so there’s no reason his newly opened Tex-Mex restaurant Bar Amá shouldn’t also be a hit. Centeno drew inspiration from his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother Amá, after whom the restaurant is named. Look for Nana’s lengua chile con carne, Grandma’s mole, and Mom’s Mexican fried rice. And don’t miss the puffy taco, a Texas specialty that here comes packed with carnitas and spiked with a pequín chile-vinegar salsa. If you’re thirsty, there are (only!) Mexican beers on tap and plenty of Mezcal and tequila. For those with healthful New Year’s resolutions, this is a fine way to send off 2012 with a calorific bang.118 West 4th Street; 213-687-8002; bar-ama.com